See our first Storm Story
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928, the second deadliest storm in United States history. Herb Donald of Dunedin was there to witness it all. Pinellas County Connection Television (PCC-TV) recently interviewed Mr. Donald to get his Storm Story on tape. The video is available on the Storm Story page at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency. Just scroll down to the link that says View a Storm Story.

We have made it easier than ever to submit your Storm Story. Visit our redesigned web page at http://www.pinellascounty.org/forms/stories.htm and use our fillable form to tell us what happened.
You can also still send your stories to Pinellas County.

Mail your account to Operation Storm Story, 333 Chestnut Street, Clearwater, FL 33756.
You can also e-mail the story to stormstory@pinellascounty.org or fax it to (727) 464-4432.

Please note that by submitting your storm information, Pinellas County reserves the right to use your name and account in future hurricane education materials.

Happy New Year!
As we enter 2008, let’s take a look back at the big weather events of 2007.

February 2: A very intense low pressure system developed off the Gulf coast and pushed inland, spawning three powerful tornadoes through north central Florida. The storms killed 21 people – the deadliest since the Kissimmee Tornado Outbreak of 1998 which killed 28.

Spring: A persistent drought required the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFMD) to enact strict water restrictions.

May 9: Subtropical storm Andrea formed, and the northerly wind on the storm’s west side pushed dense smoke from the Bugaboo fire in southern Georgia and numerous other smaller fires to the bay area. The smoke cut visibility to less than one-quarter mile for many days during the week, and air quality was dangerous for people with breathing conditions.

June 1: As if on cue, Tropical Storm Barry formed in the central Gulf of Mexico and headed quickly toward the Tampa Bay area. While there was minimal wind, the heavy rains (more than six inches in Largo) were a great relief after a very dry spring.

July 20: A woman and her son were struck by lightning on Treasure Island. The boy eventually passed away from the injuries he sustained.

July 22: A Pinellas Park woman was struck and injured by lightning;

August 14: A St. Petersburg man was struck and injured by lightning. (There appears to be a theme here; Pinellas County is in one of the most lightning-prone areas of the world.)

December 16: The remnants of Tropical Storm Olga interacted with a vigorous cold front, creating severe weather in the early morning hours. Heavy rain and high winds buffeted north county, but the worst of the weather – including one confirmed tornado – stayed to the north of Pinellas County.

The hottest temperature recorded at Tampa International Airport was 96° on several dates during the summer and the lowest was 39° on Jan. 30. A total of 41.97 inches of rain fell during the year, 2.80 inches short of the annual average of 44.77 inches.

The flu as disaster?
Winter is the height of the cold and flu season. For millions of Americans, a case of the flu means a miserable week of fever, chills, stuffy head, muscle aches and a general feeling of misery. For seasonal flu, that’s about all there is for healthy adults. But that’s not always the case. In fact, scientists worldwide are concerned about the emergence of a deadly flu strain.

Believe it or not, there are some people still alive who lived through one of the deadliest worldwide epidemics. The 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide, making it deadlier than the 14th Century Black Death pandemic that ravaged Europe and parts of Asia.

With our modern sanitation practices and advances in medical science, why are emergency planners concerned about infectious disease?

The potential for another pandemic is real. Most epidemiologists are pointing the finger at a virus known as the Avian Flu. This virus currently affects species of birds, but has occasionally made the jump to a human host. According to the World Health Organization, 340 people have been infected with this particular virus and 208 of those have perished – a mortality rate of 61 percent. Should the flu virus mutate to a form where it can easily spread from person to person, its potential to kill is enormous, because most people have never been exposed and have no immunity.

Most cases of animal to human transmission have occurred in rural Asia, but, given the region’s high population density and poor sanitation, an outbreak can spread very quickly.

While it may seem a strange thing to prepare for, you might want to consider doing some reading on the potential of a flu epidemic. An excellent resource can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.

If you’d like more information on how to avoid a bout with colds or the flu this season, the Pinellas County Health Department offers some excellent suggestions at www.pinellashealth.com.

Know your escrow
Having proper insurance is an essential part of preparing for storm recovery. Most people pay their insurance premiums as part of their mortgage bill. Each month, a portion of your payment is put into an account called an escrow account, and the policy is paid from that. Lenders who require insurance premiums in escrow must pay those premiums to the appropriate carrier before the deadline. They must also make sure that the escrow account has adequate funds and when it does not, they must notify the property owner of their responsibility to supplement the account. The lender is required to provide an annual statement of the escrow account.

If the lender fails to pay an insurance premium when due and the policy lapses for non-payment and there were sufficient funds in the escrow account, the lender can be held responsible for any losses that occur during the period of lapse.

• If the premium payment is less than 90 days overdue, the insurance company is required to reinstate the policy retroactively to the date of cancellation. The lender must then reimburse the property owner for any penalty or fee imposed by the insurer and paid by the insured for reinstatement.
• If the premium payment is more than 90 days overdue, the lender must pay the difference between the cost of the previous insurance policy and a new, comparable insurance policy for a period of two years. If the lender refuses, that is a violation of Florida Statute 501.137, and the lender may be liable for reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred by the property owner.

For more information on insurance issues, call the Florida Department of Financial Services at (800) 342-2762 or visit www.fldfs.com.

What does that mean?
I’ve gotta jet. Cool your jets. The jet age. Jets have been part of our communication since they were first invented in the 1940s and perfected in the 1950s. But one discovery that even predates the invention of jet airplanes is what’s known now as the jet stream.

The jet stream blows in a narrow band about 36,000 feet (more than six miles) high at the boundaries between air masses of different temperatures. There are four jet streams around the world: both the northern and southern hemispheres each have a subpolar jet (which meanders between 30° and 70°) and a subtropical jet (meandering between 20° and 50°). Both northern hemisphere jet streams move south in the winter and north in the summer, exerting influence over the weather. The subpolar jet is typically far more powerful than the subtropical, with wind speeds reaching as high as 250 miles per hour.

These powerful high level winds can steer storm systems and can add greatly to the intensity of storms. The Storm of the Century which hit the east coast of the United States in March 1993 got a significant boost in strength from an unusually powerful subpolar jet which blew over the Gulf of Mexico.

The Imperial Japanese army first observed these very powerful winds and used them to carry fire-bomb-containing balloons across the Pacific Ocean to attack the United States during World War II. Several hundred of the thousands of balloons launched from the Japanese shoreline crossed the 5,000 miles of open Pacific Ocean in as little as three days and landed as far east as Michigan. While they may have crossed the Pacific successfully, they had only limited effectiveness, however six people who were out on a picnic in Oregon were killed. You can read more about the fire ballons at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon.

Today, commercial airlines plan their routes around the jet streams during long distance travel. East to west routes ride in the jet stream to gain a speed boost, while west to east flights avoid the jet stream to lessen head winds.

Weather facts of the month

• While tornadoes are most common in North America, they can happen on every continent in the world except Antarctica. The deadliest tornado in the world occurred in 1989 in Bangladesh, killing more than 1,300 people.
• Lake effect snows, which occur when cold air blows over warm water, can drop tremendous amounts of snowfall in the areas surrounding the Great Lakes. A similar effect, known as ocean effect snow, occurred in Florida on Jan. 24, 2003. That day, low temperatures and strong winds caused snow flurries as far south as Cape Canaveral.